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To understand the perceived correlation between hospital prices and patient health outcomes, the authors gathered insurance claims data from the Health Care Cost Institute between June 2007 and June 2014 [...]

This essay examines four schools of thought about US strategy in Asia, particularly regarding China. These four viewpoints—here termed the responsible stakeholder, communist collapse, constructive cooperation, and managed competition schools—are determined largely by the answers to two questions. First, to what degree should US policies focus on integrating China into the international order, versus mitigating the consequences of China's rise? Second, should US policy makers seek a specified end state with China, or simply focus on achieving a stable steady state? Based on a detailed analysis of existing commentary, we assert that most debates about US objectives vis-à-vis China revolve around these questions. This essay concludes that US policies are likely to incorporate aspects of all four theories, which will make it difficult—if not impossible—for the United States to adopt any clear and sustained strategy across administrations. Barring a major breakthrough or breakdown in US–China relations, Washington is destined for a muddled debate on China that will make it difficult to achieve strategic consensus. And this strategic confusion on China will have substantial implications for US regional strategy more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite China's traditional role as a continental power, modern Chinese leaders are pursuing a grand strategy that includes the explicit goal of becoming a maritime power. China is strengthening its ability to deny its "near seas" (the Yellow, East China, and South China Seas) to US forces and building the capabilities and infrastructure to project power into "far seas" that lie beyond these waters. Yet Beijing is doing so without crossing the threshold of actual violence -- unlike Russia's use of violent "hybrid warfare" in Ukraine. In the maritime areas close to its coast, China has adopted "gray zone" approaches to alter the status quo while avoiding combat between uniformed militaries. Farther afield, China's strategy focuses on accumulating influence through efforts such as the Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to build economic connections across the Eurasian landmass and the Indian Ocean. This article aims to reconsider how experts categorize and think about the instruments of power China is deploying in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, and their roles in China's expanding overseas strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]